Tag: The Deal

Thanks to those of you who’ve already pre-ordered THE LAST BIG THING. I’m humbled by the number of folks who’ve picked up a copy, and I’m anxiously/nervously looking forward to hearing what you think. Don’t forget – if you’ve pre-ordered a signed copy from Infected Books, you can download a complementary ebook version straightaway and get reading immediately.

I’ve mentioned the art that Craig Paton put together for the book. As you’d expect with a collection like this, the cover is a grouping together of a number of disparate ideas. One of the new stories is about a band, and that’s where the initial idea for the artwork came from: a faded and torn tour poster that’s been pasted to a wall. Craig had a lot of fun adding loads of Easter eggs and in-jokes to the rest of the wall which I’m sure you’ll appreciate once you’ve read the collection. If you’re reading this piece on my website, you should be able to see a small sample immediately to your right.

I’ve been wanting to release this book for quite some time as I’ve built up a stockpile of short stories and it’s often the case that years after publication they can sometimes prove difficult for people to find. As you’d expect, there’s a certain amount of my trademark Moody bleakness in there with apocalyptic stories like THE LUCKY ONES, but it’s not all about the end of the world (for once). Once I looked back at the finished collection, I realised just to what extent some of my biggest influences have shaped much of what I’ve written over the years. My love of 1950s B movies and obscure 1970s horror films comes to the fore in stories like BIG MAN and ALMOST FOREVER, whereas OSTRICH, THE DEAL and NOLAN HIGGS IS OUT OF HIS DEPTH wouldn’t be out of place as episodes of TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED or THE TWILIGHT ZONE (aka the greatest TV show in history).

THE LAST BIG THING also marks the first time that my one and (currently) only HATER short story – EVERYTHING AND NOTHING – has appeared in print. It’s an interesting little off-cut which takes place in the days running up to the events of DOG BLOOD and which features a certain Danny McCoyne taking a break from the fighting and realising how close he is to home…

Happy New Year to you all. I thought I’d kick off 2015 with a quick look back at my 2014 releases (just in case you missed any), and a peek at my plans for 2015. Despite being a pig of a year for me on many levels, I was surprisingly productive, releasing two full-length novels (STRAIGHT TO YOU and STRANGERS), a zombie novella collection (LAST OF THE LIVING, which included ISOLATION and THE COST OF LIVING along with a number of other shorts), and the long-overdue limited edition hardcover of AUTUMN: AFTERMATH.

So what does 2015 hold? There’s a lot being planned behind the scenes, and I thought I’d pile the pressure on myself by announcing the major projects I’m working on this year. Notice there are no timescales quoted here (I never seem to keep to them anyway!) but this is the order I’m tackling these novels.

THE SPACES BETWEEN: ELYSIAN FIELDS
The first book in my long-teased horror/ science-fiction/ noir crime series. If you’ve not heard me talking about this one before, here’s a quick tease: Several years ago London was destroyed in a white-hot nuclear haze. Millions of people were displaced, and huge numbers ended up in rapidly constructed newcities like Elysian Fields. Designed to house around one hundred thousand, the population of Elysian Fields is several times that. It’s a dangerous, sprawling hell-hole of a place ruled by gangs, violence and fear. When a prominent business leader’s son disappears, social worker Greg Dawson becomes embroiled in the mission to snatch him back. But the more Dawson discovers about Elysian Fields, the more he comes to realise there’s a huge gulf between what we’re being told and reality. In the spaces between the two, absolutely everything changes.

17 DAYS
Yes, I know… I’ve finished this book twice already, but I’ve still not got it quite right. I had a rollercoaster year last year, and in the midst of all the ups and downs, I’ve realised where I was going wrong. Mark Thane is a downtrodden and overlooked nobody. When he discovers he only has 17 days left to live, he’s forced to question everything. The country is on the verge of revolution, and Mark unwittingly finds himself at the eye of the storm. This time last week no one knew who Mark Thane was. By the time his number’s up, the entire world will be watching his every move.

FOCUS
A sick and twisted love story. Adam’s wife died last summer. He’s not going to let her die again.

So there you go. Plenty of work ahead. Add to this more signing events and the continued expansion of the Infected empire (Infected Films and Infected Audio, anyone?) and that’s more than enough to keep me busy. I hope you’ll stick around, because 2015 is going to be a cracker!

You can get hold of a free and previously unpublished short story – THE DEAL – simply by signing up for my mailing list. A story of perverts and hit-men and contract killings, it’s available in Kindle, pdf and ePub formats, exclusively for newsletter subscribers. Fill in the following form and download details will be sent to you within the hour.

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